COLLIDER: How did you first hear about this project and this role?
That was summer, and then the next summer, I auditioned.
I did a really wonderful Zoom audition with Anna [Foerster], our first director.
Image by Jefferson Chacon
She had me doing crazy things.
Before the scene, I want you to scream with as much rage as you’ve ever felt.
It was very freeing, just seeing, “Can they push me in this direction?”
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Then I was offered the role, and then I found out.
So, I came off that Zoom call pretty rattled, honestly.
She really trusted that I could carry that part of the story.
I actually found it very useful to have her as a…
I keep using the word shape.
‘Dune: Prophecy’ shapes one of the Dune universe’s biggest conflicts.
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She’s a character who, from the beginning, is driven by ambition.
She wants to restore her house.
She’s warning everyone against complacency.
Set in the universe of Frank Herbert’s Dune series, this sci-fi epic follows the political and spiritual struggles on the desert planet of Arrakis. As factions vie for control of the prized spice melange, a prophesied hero emerges, challenging the balance of power and the fate of the galaxy.
Theres that wonderful scene in Episode 2 where they talk about each acolyte.
Then I used the other idiom of a wolf in sheeps clothing.
It was really useful to play with in my mind.
When am I a little lamb, and when am I actually a wolf in sheep’s clothing?
And I could switch line by line and in scenes.
We underestimate her, other characters underestimate her, to your point, based on how she presents herself.
She’s not taking the brunt.
I think it’s very clever and a very energy-efficient kind of training.
She doesn’t need to be looked at.
A lot of people, they want to be seen, and they want to be heard.
As we soon find out, that’s not the case.
She’s really been tapped to be on this revenge mission for her family, for her sister.
CANNING: I was told the arc of this story by Alison before.
As a viewer, you’re all of a sudden dropped in there.
Often, you could just kind of pass those stage directions by because sometimes they’re not that useful.
Tulas reaction to injecting Orry is interesting.
She goes off on this mission with the plan to target Orry.
Thats what she and Valya have agreed an eye for an eye.
Griffin was our brightest light, Orry is the Atreides brightest light.
She finds this independence and courage, andthis plan morphs into something much more grotesque.
It becomes a massacre.
It just all grows legs, and she can’t control how she feels.
She doesn’t have any sounding board.
The inner turmoil is immense.
So, those tears, there was so much wrapped up in that.
How does that change her moving forward and ultimately determine where she ends up?
CANNING: That decision is so spurred on by heartbreak, but also utter self-loathing.
Valya is the only one, including Tula, who sees this as a noble thing that she did.
I don’t think Tula sees it that way.I think she has a lot of deep regrets about it.
So, the fact that Valya is offering this positive impression of herself is sort of a lifeline.
You were the sweet child.
So, she can’t escape it at home, she can’t escape it by herself.
It’s all she can think of.
I want to leave that self behind.
I want a clean break.
She can’t let Valya leave, or she has to leave with her.
New episodes ofDune: Prophecypremiere every Sunday on Max.
